Talent Agent

After seeing talent agent Adam Isaacs' bedroom terrace garden for the first time, you might think that he is blessed with a green thumb. But you'd be wrong. True, the staghorn fern on the wall and the bromeliad below, as well as the fountain grass and short green yucca ferns that surround his serene Balinese Buddha, look particularly perky. And his timber bamboo, split-leaf philodendron and red banana tree are full and lush-looking.

Prominent entertainment producer and talent manager Joan Hyler remained in critical condition at UCLA Medical Center after being struck by a vehicle on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Friday evening, authorities said. Hyler, a former president of the nonprofit Women in Film, was parking her car when she was hit and "sustained severe and multiple injuries," according to a posting by family members on the website www.carepages.com. According to Variety, Hyler's clients have included Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Peter O'Toole and Ann-Margret.

Charles H. Joffe, a legendary manager of comic talent who helped guide the careers of Dick Cavett, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Woody Allen and co-produced nearly all of Allen's films, died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 78. Joffe and his business partner, Jack Rollins, were considered the deans of comedy management, who nurtured many young comics through their small New York City agency.

Two of Hollywood's most powerful talent agents, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, breezed into the trial of private detective Anthony Pellicano on Wednesday for barely 10 minutes total of testimony. "This is going to be boring," Lourd quipped to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom before his five minutes on the stand. In a way, he was right.

Freddie Fields, a onetime vaudeville booker who became a high-flying Hollywood talent agent for such stars as Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand, and who later headed production at MGM and United Artists studios, has died. He was 84. Fields, who also produced the critically acclaimed 1989 Civil War epic "Glory," died of lung cancer Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills, his longtime friend and publicist Warren Cowan said.

Roy Gerber, a former talent agent and longtime talent manager who was the inspiration for the character of Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's classic comedy "The Odd Couple," has died. He was 82. Gerber died Tuesday of complications from a brain tumor at his home in Beverly Hills, said his son Bill.

As a talent agent, Ruth Webb earned a reputation in the 1970s for giving new life to such old stars as Ginger Rogers, Dorothy Lamour and Donald O'Connor on the dinner-theater circuit. She also helped rekindle Mickey Rooney's career, prompting him to write in a 1980 ad in Variety while appearing in the Broadway hit "Sugar Babies" that Webb "took me when no one else wanted me and made me a star."

THEY get the best booths at the Grill, they make the deals happen and they represent the highest-wattage of A-list clients: Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon. So, what do guys like Patrick Whitesell and Kevin Huvane have to do to cast an Oscar ballot in this town? Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences include actors, writers and directors, of course. Then there's the casting directors and makeup, design and other technical teams. Oh, yes, and the publicists.

As Hollywood studios make fewer movies in an effort to tighten their belts, top talent agencies quietly have sauntered into the void, becoming de facto bankers by enticing private equity money and wealthy outsiders to fund movies featuring their clients. The trend marks a significant shift for Hollywood, where studios have long served as the largest source of film financing.

When John Lesher sold a film project to Paramount Pictures Corp. last year, the Hollywood talent agent couldn't have imagined he'd end up shepherding the movie into theaters as head of the studio's new specialty unit. "Babel," an intense drama starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, opened over the weekend, Lesher's first release under the Paramount Vantage banner.